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BY CAROL ARNETT

The Florissant City Council heard from representatives of both Charter and AT&T at their last council meeting, but won’t take immediate action on any cable television changes. At a previous meeting, representatives from AT & T came before the council to speak in favor of the city entering into a contract with the company to provide television services to city residents.

Paul Berra, of Charter Communications, told the council that Charter wanted to make sure that AT&T was not going to have a better agreement than Charter. He told the council that AT&T has been sued in other cities where it has put in its television service. In addition, Berra raised concerns with the safety of AT&T’s equipment, saying that a box like the ones AT&T is proposing for Florissant exploded in Virginia.

Mayor Robert Lowery said he wanted residents to get the best possible service and prices, and he asked Berra if Charter would reduce prices to compete with AT&T. Lowery also said that he knew of the explosion in Virginia and said that foul play had not been ruled out.

City Attorney John Hessel said that it was his opinion that the proposed contract between AT&T and the city addressed most of Charter’s concerns.

AT&T is proposing a service that would provide television programming, along with phone and internet service, to residential customers. AT&T would put up several control boxes in the city to support the service.
The city has a franchise agreement with Charter to provide cable television service. The city would continue the agreement with Charter if it signed the contract with AT&T, so both companies would provide the service to residents.

The council decided to postpone action on the AT&T contract. They will take it up again on Feb. 12.

In other matters, the city held two public hearings. The first hearing regarded a request by Bruce Thomas to subdivide property located at 480 Raymond Street. Councilman Tom Schneider said that he did not think the resulting lots were big enough. “It’s like putting ten pounds in a five pound bag.”

The second public hearing regarded a request by Fish King to operate a restaurant at 520 N. Lindbergh. This would be in the shopping center at the intersection of Washington and Highway 67. The restaurant would be open seven days a week, would have no liquor service and no delivery. The council held a first reading on a bill approving the restaurant.

In other news, Lowery announced that he had recently attended a seminar on global warming. The city would begin looking at ways to reduce emissions, he said. “We are looking at buying hybrid vehicles for the city,” he said.
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